The REAL Gateway Drug? Marijuana Vs. Cigarettes
For many years now I have heard from people over and over again about how Marijuana was the gateway drug; the start of all their problems and the beginning of their addiction. Many people have told me this usually with a cigarette dangling from their lips. I took an honest look back at my life and I saw things a little different. So for the last few years I have taken little surveys here and there and I may shed a light upon these two evil weeds.
Marijuana Vs. Cigarettes
For many years now I have heard from people over and over again about how Marijuana was the gateway drug; the start of all their problems and the beginning of their addiction. Many people have told me this usually with a cigarette dangling from their lips. I took an honest look back at my life and I saw things a little different. So for the last few years I have taken little surveys here and there and I may shed a light upon these two evil weeds.
My first drug experience was a drug called nicotine. At the young and tender age of ten I used to think that my parents looked cool and mature smoking their cigarettes. I started sneaking a few smokes from their many packs and would go out behind our house and light up. I used to look at my reflection in the garage window to see how cool and mature I looked puffing on a smoke. I even used to get a little light headed and enjoyed the feeling. The addict was born. I needed more cigarettes!
Within the next few years I found other kids my age that were smoking also. This connected me up with the wrong crowd and future trouble makers. It didn’t take long for us “cool guys” that were smoking to start drinking alcohol also. Now we were not only stealing our parent’s cigarettes but their beer, wine and liquor too. Being in the wrong crowd, it wasn’t long before Marijuana was introduced and then the next thing I know I’m smoking, drinking, getting high on pot and tripping on LSD. Oh what a tangled web we weave!
So Which is the "Real" Gateway Drug?
My quest to find out which drug—THC or Nicotine— that my fellow addicts experienced first started about three years ago. I really don’t know how many addicts and alcoholics I’ve asked, but it has been a lot. About seven out of ten admitted that, yes, nicotine was their first drug they experimented with. They smoked a cigarette before they smoked pot. This ultimately led them to their drug of choice that brought them to their knees (and brought many to Sober Living By The Sea).
If you are a parent, teacher, or anyone responsible for or looking after children, look for this early warning sign. If you see a ten year old child smoking a cigarette you may very well be looking at a future addict. Help this child somehow or let their parents know. Maybe we can nip addiction in the “butt” by knowing where that cigarette may lead to.
Jay Rau, CAS
Jay Rau is a Staff Member at Sober Living by the Sea. He provides oversight and support to the men and women who come to our treatment center in Newport Beach.
Children and Smoking
Retailers and the supply chain needs to do more to reduce the availability of access for children to cigarettes, but in the UK it is friends, family and other people that are the largest suppliers to children.
Having taken a look at your site you make clear the cost of early addiction.
Thanks for your contact.
Steve